WESTM NSTER HAUL
Page 7
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I once got a Ministry statement which mentioned hectares, and having no clear idea of what this represented, and not trusting my maths, I rang up Whitehall and asked for conversion intro acres.
They couldn't tell me, but promised — and kept their promise — to find out and call me back. I felt a bigger fool than usual, for I realised that I coulc visualise an acre no easier than a hec, tare.
Recalling this humbling experience my loyalties were divided when theii Lordships discussed metrication, for ii became obvious that, like me, some 01 them can just about manage kilometres, half a kilo of peaches, or E 70c1 bottle of wine, while others arE perfectly at home with millilitres an( myriagrams. When the men and women of West. minster have discussed ten an( hundreds in the past, the effect of th( change on road transport has feature( pretty prominently. This time, apart from the occasional in trusions of carpets or rugby teams, th( debate was in more general terms although the transport business di( intrude every now and then.
Viscount Trenchard, Minister of State fo. Industry, for example, who was insis tent that metrication would continue could see nothing urgent on the matte of road signs, and promptly passe( responsibility for these to the Trans port Minister. Whereas Baroness White, who ha served on the Metrication Board, wa more positive about petrol. Sib forecast that with prices rising then would be a voluntary change fron gallons to litres. Lord Monson seemed to go a little astra: when he was dealing with the export vehicles to America. He believed tha anyone wanting to sell vehicles ove there would have to convert back fron metric to imperial, and when Lord On Ewing ventured to disagree, Lori Monson said he was under the impres sion that engine capacity was mea sured in cubic inches and not in cubi centimetres. But he was not sure.
He was however, in no doubt about th system of measurement he preferred imperial measurements evolved ove the years from the real needs of rez people and were not merely the fabr: cation of cloistered academics.